Full house, Happy Mama

Monday, January 6, 2014

Even though last Monday was January 1st today feels more like the new year has begun. I guess it is because the holidays are over and we have started school again . Today has been a good day,with a small exception of some sickness. The children did a great job of getting up,doing their morning chores and starting school .I was able to get my 4loads of laundry done and now have a fifth one in the wash .Remember that sickness I mentioned?. It adds some extra laundry to the pile :) Besides laundry and the normal work of the day I am hoping to give the kitchen floor a good scrubbing and clear some clutter in there. I praise The Lord for another year of life to live for him!

Friday, July 5, 2013

So I was working around the house today and I was thinking," Hey, maybe I could start a blog" then I came to the computer and realized I ALREADY have a blog!! Not really, I am only kidding! -:) It has been a REALLY long time since I have posted anything on here. I really like reading other people's blogs and I like to write about our lives too but when I sit down to write I feel at a loss for words! If you know me you know that I am very seldom lost for words whether they come out right or not ;) You see I really don't count myself as REALLY good at anything. I don't say that in a "praise me" attitude at all!! I really like to save money and shop at thrift stores and keep life simple but then I may turn around and do something completely unexpected and spend some money foolishly or buy something new or go out to eat or go to a theme park with the children or maybe even get my hair and nails done on the same day!! Well, maybe not the nails since I keep them very short :) but you get what I mean! -:) I am just a normal wife, mama and child of God!
Sometimes I do good and sometimes I fall but God is so faithful to pick me back up and then I start again! Rain or shine I have been blessed with a wonderful physical and spiritual family and I will try to give you a peek into our lives through this blog!
Sooo, here we go again! I will try to post some pictures of the family and about days of our lives here and there with a little homeschooling and cooking in the mix as well! If I find a way to save some money or come across an idea that is a help to me I will share it with you too!
Talk to you again soon!!

Friday, March 8, 2013

Hey! Happy Friday! We are getting ready to start our Friday fun night! I thought I would tell you about a little experiment I did today.
Ok, so I have been seeing in the freezer section of the grocery store a lot of frozen rice dishes and frozen potatoes you steam in the microwave. That got me to thinking. If they can do it then why can't I?? So, when I saw that Aldi had their 5 lb. bag of red potatoes for $1.19 this week I decided that this would be the week to try it! I got 3 packets of ranch seasoning BOGO at Bi-lo. I took my potatoes, lightly coated them with oil and then with the ranch packets, covered and put them in a 350 degree oven for 1 hr. I took them out of the oven and let them cool, then I put them into 2 freezer bags . It was about 7 1/2 lbs. of potatoes. They are in the freezer and I am planning on trying them next week.
One thing led to another and I decided to try and freeze my favorite broccoli, rice and cheese casserole. I had some chicken breasts that I had bought on sale and I decided to add them to the recipe to make it a meal! I doubled the casserole and used 2 chicken breasts. It looked really good! I was able to get 2 meals out of it. They are now in the freezer as well. I plan on eating the potatoes with the casserole although it might be kind of risky trying both of them out at the same time :-) I will let you know how they turn out!
I got the pack of boneless chicken breasts for $4. I used 2 in the supper meals and I cooked two and put them in a bag for "fancy" quesadillas for supper one night! 3 meals for $4 dollars of chicken isn't too bad!! I have some black beans in the crockpot cooking with some cilantro and a little garlic to freeze and serve along side the quesadillas and some extra for another spanish meal. Sometimes, I like to have the beans whole instead of refried for a change.
We have had a good day of school and thrift store shopping, park and a little gardening in the front yard.
God is good and I am humbled to think that He loves me!! Have a good weekend!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

What a day! Whew! It has been busy but also lots of fun! We started off the morning by doing some minor straightening of the house. Mostly because the children sleep in the family room on Friday nights and watch a movie.Last night they had a mini marathon of the old cartoon Duck Tales :).Then " the girls" cleaned a little of the prophet's room ( a place where preachers and missionaries can stay when they come through).
We had some friends come by for lunch and some fellowship on their way to NC for a meeting on Sunday. They couldn't stay too long because of snow in the forecast where they were going. We had Little Ceasars pizza and chips for lunch.It was good to spend some time with them!!
After a little while we went over and cleaned the church and put up the flags for our Missions meeting that starts tomorrow. We came back home and put the finishing touches on the prophet's room . We relaxed a little and stared out the window for snow. Well, we didn't see much of that :( There is some yucky rain that has fallen and it is supposed to be freezing tonight. Lord willing the roads will stay clear so that we will be able to have services tomorrow.
We were very excited to welcome a missionary family back that we have seen grow up, get married, have children and serve the Lord on a foreign mission field! We enjoyed re meeting their sweet little boy and twin girls. We had vegetable soup and crackers for supper and Hope made us some yummy chocolate cupcakes with oreo frosting for dessert. We enjoyed talking about their family and ministry and old times :)
After they left, we cleaned up the kitchen, everyone got baths and watched one more Duck tales ;)
Everyone is in the bed now and I am going to take my shower and follow shortly!
God bless you and I hope you have a wonderful Lord's Day tomorrow!!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

That sounds kind of funny doesn't it! :-) We have started a new dishes system at our house and it is working well! Our 3 oldest girls, Hannah, Hope and Faith, and I are taking turns doing the dishes for a day. Monday is Hannah's day, Tuesday is Hope's day, Wednesday is Faith's Day then the rotation starts again. My day is Sunday . Ok, so I know this sounds soo unfair. WHAT they have two days and I only have one!!! Well, the thing is that every night after supper, if they have kept up with loading the dishwasher and running it, I help them with the supper dishes. See, I'm not such a bad person ;) I do Sundays because it is kind of an odd day as far as the kitchen goes so I thought it would be better to take that day. It has worked well and all 4 of us have enjoyed our "break" from dishes when it is not our day!! Just for fun we made up a song which even Joy sings to the "lucky" person of the day :-)

"Happy dishes to you
Happy dishes to you
We hope you can clean theeeeeem
Happy dishes to you"

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The children and I went to town for a little while this morning. While in the checkout line at Walmart Joy ( 2 yr. old) saw a Mickey Mouse with a heart on the front with the word LOVE. Hannah ( one of our 11yr.olds) asked her what it said. Without hesitation she replied,"I love Joy". She loved that Mickey and I guess she thought it loved her too :-)

On the way home as we passed by a church she said , loudly, " A church, Hallelujah!!" ha ha . That girl is a mess.

One day our children will be grown and gone and I want to remember the little things along the way they did that made me smile!!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Well, I didn't leave town after all today :-) Kevin and the three older girls went on to the meeting this morning and I stayed home with the three younger ones. We had hoped to have company after church tomorrow and I really felt like there were things that I needed to do here at the house to be ready for the day. I was able to watch some of the service as they were streaming live. There are days when technology is awesome!!
For breakfast we had yummy country ham biscuits I found a pack with 7 thin slices for $1.05 at our local Bi-Lo. I had never seen those packages before so maybe it is something new they are carrying.Kevin and the girls left at about 11:30. I put on some laundry,chatted with a friend and then made us a simple lunch of ham sandwiches about 1:30.The children played outside while I did some house cleaning. It was a very casual quiet kind of cleaning and actually pretty relaxing.
After the children came in we made homemade chocolate chip cookies. We all enjoyed the time together and I actually let them lick their spoons when we were finished... shhhh ,don't let their sisters find out it is not something I am in the habit of letting them do ;-). For supper I made hamburgers and homemade fries. I was able to buy hamburger on sale for 1.79/lb. this week so I went ahead and premade 2 meals worth of extra burgers to put in the freezer for later .
After supper the girls enjoyed a bubble bath and the big boy took a shower in mama and daddy's shower:)
I painted the girls fingernails and toenails and they ate some of the cookies we made. Baby girl went to bed early as she was overly tired and in need of sleep (she was WILD)!! The other two are enjoying playing together and will be in bed soon.
Kevin called and they are on the way home. After the meeting they drove about 45 minutes to visit a family whose baby girl is in the hospital. They really need a touch of God in their lives right now. Please pray for them if you think about it.
I am getting ready to work on the little ones Bible verses for the month with them and then they are off to bed and I am off to get a cup of coffee and put my feet up for a while!!
Good night. Take care and God bless you!